Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Another hero from Florida has died - Cory Clark lived in Plant City.

Army Sgt. Cory L. Clark, 25, of Plant City, Fla. was assigned to the 585th Engineer Pipeline Company, 864th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Fort Lewis, Wash. He died Aug. 28 in Jaji, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Also killed were Sgt. 1st Class Rocky H. Herrera and Sgt. Bryce D. Howard.

“Cory loved his family. He loved his country,” his longtime guidance counselor, Gloria Chamberlin, told the gathering. She had known him as a sixth-grader at Marshall Middle School, as a teenager at Durant… At Durant, he aspired to be a chef. “Cory loved his culinary arts classes,” Chamberlin said. But after high school, he joined the Army, enlisting in April 2001.

Incredible. I would have thought 11th or 12th. But according to the ESPN - NCAA College Football Polls, College Football Rankings, NCAA Football Poll, USF is ranked sixth in the AP poll - ahead of the Gators, and 9th in the USA Today coaches poll.

Tribune Bulls beat writer Brett McMurphy says Jeff Sagarin has the Bulls ranked as the number 3 team in the country.

Another great hero from Tampa, Florida died in Iraq.

David A. Heringes 36, of Tampa, Fla. was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, in Fort Bragg, N.C. He died Aug. 24 near Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit during combat operations in Bayji, Iraq.

He was born in Cleveland and his family moved to Tampa when he was 15. He graduated from Leto High in 1989… After high school, he worked as an auto mechanic. At age 20, he enlisted in the military, Ron Heringes said, and he planned to stay 20 years or more.

If you ask Bulls Fans, the USF Bulls 21-13 win over #5 West Virginia should vault South Florida into the top ten ranking.

But listening to the ESPN2 broadcast last night, and College GameDay this morning, it sounds as if the national pundits suggest that West Virginia played badly.

Looked to me like both teams were slugging the snot out of each other. USF slugged harder, and held on.

The next two weeks will be a test for the largely untested Bucs, since they travel to Carolina and Indy. This season reminds me a lot of ‘05 when the Bucs were overlooked to start the season, the team went 4-0 against an easy schedule but lost it’s games against good opponents. That was the same season the Bucs had an early exit from the playoffs. Get where I’m going with this? If the Bucs fail to show up in the next two games feel free to write off their playoff chances.

BY THE NUMBERS (DVOA and DAVE explained here)
Buccaneers
Offense: ppg, 20.3 - DVOA, 18.0% (#7) - DAVE, 9.7% (#7)
Defense: ppg, 12.3 - DVOA, -20.3% (#3) - DAVE, -13.3% (#3)
Panthers
Offense: ppg, 25.0 - DVOA, 17.4% (#8) - DAVE, 6.3% (#10)
Defense: ppg, 22.3 - DVOA, 15.8% (#23) - DAVE, 0.5% (#17)

After their domination of the Rams, the Bucs saw their stats get significantly better especially the DVOA numbers on both sides of the ball. The Bucs defense is back on top but surprisingly the offense is not far behind. The Panthers offense is also in the top ten but David Carr is somewhat of an x-factor in this equation. Personally, I’m not thrilled about Carr stepping into the starter’s shoes but then again I could be wrong. Oddly enough the Panthers defense has given a poor effort this season and is ranked in the bottom half of the NFL. Their rushing defense has held up but the secondary has as many holes as swiss cheese.

BY THE PLAYERS
Joey Galloway vs. Panther Secondary
Last week the much maligned Joey Harrington threw for 361 yards and almost won the game until DeAngelo Hall opened his mouth. Expect Jeff Garcia to do the same this weekend (pass not run his mouth), which means his favorite target, i.e. Galloway, will have a busy day. It’s only a matter of time before teams start double-teaming Galloway seeing as how he’s the only receiver with a pulse, and I’m willing to guess John Fox will exploit that weakness. But even at the ripe ol’ age of 35 Galloway is faster than most corners in the league so I expect a close victory for the Bucs in Carolina.

Wifey and I went to the Creative Loafing Best of the Bay award show on Monday night, and we found out that Sticks of Fire garnered the most votes from CL readers in the Best of the Bay balloting. Woo Hoo! That makes us a three time winner in the annual contest - Editors’ Choice Best Local Website 2005, Readers’ Choice Best Local Blog 2006, and Readers’ Choice Best Local Blog 2007.

Editor’s Choice this year went to St. Petersblog for Best Local Blog, and to Pushing Rope for Best Local Political Blog.

Other Readers’ poll winners announced Monday night include these great deserving folks:

Best Theater Troupe
American Stage

Best Local Actor
Richard Coppinger

Best Local Actress
Eileen Koteles

Best Visual Artist
Amanda Stiles

Best Art Gallery
STUDIO @620

(more…)

In case you haven’t heard there is a little game this Friday night involving the University of South Florida. How things have changed in the Big East, three weeks ago no one could have predicted this game would likely decide who wins the conference. Ignoring that Friday night games are an affront to every high school coach who ever taught the game best of luck to the Bulls tomorrow, they’ll need it.

• We Must Ignite This Couch not only has the best name EVER for a West Virginia blog but also a preview of Friday nights’ game. WMITC predicts a 31-20 victory for the Mountaineers in Raymond James. We predict no couches will be burnt in Tampa Friday regardless of who wins.

• The Bulls are becoming the talk of the web as Sunday Morning Quarterback runs down the (short) history of the program, and struggles with accepting USF as a top tier program. The Bulls were not supposed to be this good this quickly and their success (much like playing on a Friday nite) is an offense to the USC’s and Notre Dame’s of the college football world.

• If we can depend on our elected officials for one thing it is shameless yet harmless displays of support for the hometown team. Tampa mayor Pam Iorio is no different, having declared Friday to be “Green and Gold Day.” Does this mean Tampa is also supporting William and Mary?

• West Virginia has one of the most dangerous rushing attacks combining the three headed monster of Steve Slaton, Pat White and Noel Devine. Which leads BullsEye.com to question whether USF can stop the West Virginia offense.

• And finally a bonus Pat White Youtube clip mocking another Big East team. USF you are now on notice, Pat White is not impressed with your lame audio.

Friday we’ll be over in Orlando to talk about Hyperlocal blogging, and how social media can connect (or re-connect) a geographical community, and help them to become active participants in neighborhood decisions.

Hyperlocal - Moving On

Leader - Tommy Duncan, Tampa, FL - Sticks of Fire

Last year Tommy Duncan of Sticks of Fire helped out with a session on hyperlocal. Tommy will be back again this year, and hopes to focus on using blogs to strengthen geographical communities.

BlogOrlando is an unconference, so I am sure we’ll have plenty of questions on the possibilities for hyperlocal coverage. Here are a few of the highlights I hope to hear about:

• Connecting with your neighbors - Social media makes it easier for like-minded neighbors to meet and join together for all sorts of activities - community yard sales, excercise groups, block parties, crime watch, and more.
• Teaching and Learning - Using the collective knowledge of many, so that many others can utilize that information easier. Think bargain prices, shortcuts to work, neighborhood-friendly politicians.
• Experts in one field, Opinionated in many – Local news outlets like pigeonholes. They try to slot both writers and readers. What if a music critic wants to opine about the environment? What if the sports fan has a question about health issues? Social media allows us all to easily engage in conversations across the board, no matter the specific topic.
• Activism – Activist leaders used to network to find like-minded folks, and workk hard to inform them on specific issues. With a website, not only can these possible allies find an appropriate organization, they can immediately add to the conversation, and the action.
• Neighborhood information - new residents and possible residents can get a feel for a neighborhood simply by visitng a single website.

Again, this is just a suggested list of topics. I’m sure the participants will help shape the conversation, but I’d love to hear your ideas.